


painless agony

by tsukitachinu



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Getting Together, Healing, High School AU, Loneliness, M/M, Personal Growth, obscure sorrow fest, word : kuebiko, word : scabulous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22846393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsukitachinu/pseuds/tsukitachinu
Summary: Friendship is the best thing in the world, ten-year-old Mark is sure of that.Friendship is all fifteen-year-old Mark Lee had lost.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 4
Kudos: 78
Collections: OBSCURE SORROWS FIC FEST





	painless agony

**Author's Note:**

> This is my entry for the obscure sorrows fest !
> 
> I used both of my words in this fic, I hope they'll be noticable.
> 
> **Scabulous**  
>  adj. proud of a scar on your body, which is an autograph signed to you by a world grateful for your continued willingness to play with her, even when you don’t feel like it.
> 
> **Kuebiko**  
>  n. a state of exhaustion inspired by an act of senseless violence, which forces you to revise your image of what can happen in this world—mending the fences of your expectations, weeding out invasive truths, cultivating the perennial good that’s buried under the surface—before propping yourself up in the middle of it like an old scarecrow, who’s bursting at the seams but powerless to do anything but stand there and watch.
> 
> Thank you Appia for beta-ing it !   
> And Bel for helping me too !

Friendship is probably the best thing in the world. 

No, screw that - friendship _ is _ the best thing in the world,  ten-year-old Mark is sure of that.  He is so sure of it that he spends all his time with his best friends Kunhang and Yeri. He is so, so sure of it that he doesn’t care about getting scolded by his parents whenever he comes home with bruised knees, or a broken toy, or with chocolate all over his face because he took some from Yeri despite him knowing his parents didn’t want him eating too much sugar.

The three of them were like the three musketeers. They had known each other since they were born, had always been friends thanks to their parents, and then kept this friendship at school, years after years. They had done everything together.

When Yeri lost her first tooth, she was with Mark playing soccer with a bunch of other kids from school. When Kunhang managed his first somersault, Yeri and Mark were both here to cheer him on. When Mark’s cat died, they were there to throw her a funeral and give their shoulders for Mark to cry on. 

They were there for each other during bad and good times, sharing every memory.

Every scolding as well.

They liked each other so much that they tended to break the rules their parents had set for them. Sometimes it was because one of them was actually allowed to do something, so they all did it, like the time they ate Yeri’s chocolate. But most of the time they just didn’t really pay attention, too focused on their own world.

With every silly little thing they did, came a memory. Sometimes it was a photograph one of the parent took of them. It could also be a nice inside joke that was born that day and that they kept using for months, years even, the memory living on through it. But most of the time the way they played along gave them everlasting memories, little marks on their bodies to make them remember they were friends, to make them remember when they laughed, when they were happy.

When they were together.

*** * ***

Friendship is the best thing in the world, although fourteen-year -old Mark isn’t so sure about that anymore. He still thinks that it is important, and he loves his friends deeply. But there are times when he just wishes he could be alone for a moment, when he just wishes they wouldn’t always be surrounding him, watching his every steps.

He just wanted some alone time, some time to understand who he really was and what he really liked. Because he wasn’t really sure of who he was without his friends, and he didn’t want to live through them anymore.

So to fourteen-year-old Mark, friendship was important, but it was mostly overwhelming. He still wanted to hang out with Kunhang and Yeri all the time, and he did. The scolding never stopped,neither did the punishments and phone-free hours. 

He had more and more memories on his body.

There were times when he would be alone. Not because they had left him but because he wanted to be, to reflect on his life, on himself. And at these times he would start looking at his hands, his arms, his legs full of little happy marks, of little traces of his adventures and he would smile.

He would smile, because friendship was indeed the most important thing in the world.

Friendship was all fourteen years old Mark Lee had.

*** * ***

Friendship was all fifteen-year-old Mark Lee had lost.

He couldn’t lose anything else really, because there wasn’t anything else in the whole world that he cared about. Since he was born, he only liked them, he only played with them, he only got interested in them. 

He didn’t really understand how it happened . Yeri started having girl friends when they started high school, but Mark and Kunhang kept eating with her, and going back home together sometimes. They never stopped talking. It wasn’t brutal. 

Mark just noticed at some point that he didn't hear from her for weeks , and the only acknowledgment of their past friendship was the little nod she would address him in the cafeteria, while sitting down with her new friends.

But it was okay, Mark thought, he still had Kunhang. 

He didn’t really understand how it happened,  but he started losing Kunhang too. His best friend started being interested in girls, started dating one of Yeri’s friends and he got closer to their group of friends. Mark was never invited - or he didn’t try to be, he didn’t remember, being friends with their group had never been his priority.

Kunhang was his priority.

They were the three musketeers, but sometimes Mark thought about Kunhang a little more. When they were younger he tried not to think about it that much, because it felt wrong to favour one over the other, he felt guilty towards Yeri. So he kept those feelings buried until Yeri stopped talking to him, and all he had was Kunhang and these deeply buried feelings that were starting to resurface. It didn’t help that Mark had no other friend to talk about said feelings, and so he bottled everything up. 

Mark just noticed that at some point, he couldn’t be happy for Kunhang when he hugged his girlfriend, he couldn’t be happy whenever Kunhang smiled at him because he noticed how different his smile was from three years ago. He could see in it that he wasn’t his main priority, his soulmate anymore.

But it was okay, Mark thought, he still had the memories, these were forever.

*** * ***

Friendship was something sixteen-year-old Mark Lee had forgotten.  It was something he heard about from time to time, mostly in books, sometimes when he looked up from them to see the real world and saw a bunch of kids having fun together.

What is fun anyway?

Mark remembered when he was younger and had this emotion, this feeling of joy and pure bliss because he was surrounded with people he loved. 

What is love anyway? 

He used to be with Yeri and Kunhang all day; they used to play games outside, and as they grew older they continued hanging out to talk about stupid things and play video games. All kinds of games, sometimes watched movies or tv series as well, anime even. Sometimes they would do their homework as well, but they would split the workload. Mark did the sciences, Yeri the literary things and Hendery anything related to arts. In fifteen years of being on earth, Mark Lee had never finished a single book. 

Books were all he had now, because books didn’t hurt. Books weren’t mean and would never give up on him, books didn’t act as if he wasn’t there in the cafeteria, books didn’t pick another classmate as a partner for a science project, books were loyal, books were nice, and books never left any scar on his body. Books never made him hurt.

What is pain anyway? 

Pain was all sixteen years old Mark Lee knew.

*** * ***

Pain was all seventeen years old Mark Lee wished to know.

He didn’t care about friendship anymore. He thought that it was a waste of valuable time, he was better off reading books and learning skills, learning things that would make him go to a good university on a full scholarship ride. 

He did not need friends.

He did not need emotions either.

It wasn’t that he chose not to feel anything anymore, but after a year of suffering and being constantly reminded of his lost friendship because he had so many scars linked to the memories that whenever he took a shower or wore a short-sleeve shirt he felt all the pain all over again. It was endless. So he  **bottled** it up. And after a year he was proud to say that he didn’t feel anything.

Although he did not feel pride either.

So really, he just lived one day after another, studying, living his life somewhere else, in a far-away country or an unexisting one, reading about romance, about feelings he did not comprehend and did not know how to feel. 

And that is when he was at his lowest without even realising he had sunk, that the TEDtalks saying that you needed to hit rock bottom to get back on your feet took all its sense. It took its sense in the form of a new student at his high school, a new student who never knew him when he was still friend with Yeri and Kunhang years ago, a new student who did not know he was the most boring person on earth and had no reason to live (not that he did not want to live either, he just didn’t care really). 

He did not need friends.

He needed Yukhei.

Mark did not know he needed him at first and did not even notice his existence, he went to school like any other day, his new book in hand, hoodie on his head, seeking for the less exposure possible, the less stimuli as well. He went to his classroom, sat at his usual spot and waited for the class to begin while he could hear a background noise, people talking about exciting things apparently. It didn’t interest him, he kept reading.

Nothing interested him.

Even going to university was a goal he didn’t really care about. It was just an excuse to have a purpose in life, but if he ended up not going anywhere he would probably just shrugged. 

But that day, something new happened. He did not understand right away, but someone talked to him, someone he had never saw before, but then again he didn’t really notice people so the guy in front of him could have been in his class for two years and he wouldn’t have known. ‘Do you mind if I sit here? ‘ 

_ Here? Next to him ? No, he didn’t mind, why would he?  _ He nodded. 

That’s all that happened that day, but it was still something new, something out of his comfort zone and a nice change in his life. Mark did not feel joy per se, but he felt something. 

Friendship was something that came to his mind for a second.

But he shrugged it off and focused on the classes.

The following days, that guy kept sitting next to Mark, and tried to engage in a conversation, finding excuses: he forgot a pen, he didn’t hear the last sentence, what is the answer to this exercise?

Yukhei - that was his name, Mark had heard the teacher calling him that two days ago, - knew the answer, Mark was sure of that, because he knew Yukhei was damn smart and finished his maths exercises quicker than him. So he understood what he was trying to do, trying to be friendly, trying to connect.

Mark did not connect.

However, he didn’t mind him trying, and he didn’t mind talking to him so he said something that was way out of character: “If you want to talk to me, just talk, don’t make up excuses.“

Apparently it was a nice thing to say, because Yukhei’s face lit up. 

And that’s when Mark noticed, that’s when he noticed the giant scar coming out of his shirt and crawling up his neck, his cheek, stopping beneath his right eye. Was he so blind that he did not notice something like that before? His scar was not the first thing you’d notice about him, you’d notice his height first, then his handsomeness (not that Mark noticed that, he never noticed those things anymore, didn’t have interest in beauty, but he assumed that others would find him attractive), and then his scar.

His eyes lingered on his right side of his face a bit too long apparently because Yukhei seemed to notice. 

Apparently it was not a nice thing to do, because Yukhei’s face wasn’t lit up anymore.

And that’s when Mark started feeling something. He couldn’t really pinpoint what it was, but he knew he had done something bad and tactless. He knew Yukhei felt a bit hurt, and he felt something about it. God it was frustrating not being able to give this emotion a name.

Emotion? _ Am I feeling something?  _

This time, Mark’s face was the one lighting up, and this must have confused Yukhei, why was this guy who was rude a few seconds ago so happy right now? Mark was feeling happy? He was feeling joy? He could name it? 

But Yukhei was not feeling joy, and Mark was not feeling joy more than a few seconds because the moment went by and all that was left was this weird feeling in his stomach telling him he had acted badly and needed to rectify it.

So he rolled up the sleeve on his left arm, showing Yukhei his own scars, with weird shapes, all different in sizes as well. It might look like he did this to himself, and he did not think it through to be honest, but when Yukhei stopped feeling down and started showing concern on his face, Mark understood.

“I didn’t hurt myself, don’t worry. I just have skin that marks easily, and I was a troublemaking child.“

The look on Yukhei’s face was priceless, and Mark could not blame him. Even to him, imagining himself as a problem child was uncanny. But he knew it was true, and Yukhei seemed to believe him.

They stopped talking after that, but Yukhei did not look down anymore, and that was a win for Mark Lee.

*** * ***

Friendship was something Mark Lee constantly thought about.

Yukhei was nice. Like, really, really nice. Mark doesn’t remember meeting someone that nice, ever. But at the same time, he didn’t meet many people so he didn’t have much to compare Yukhei with. However, he was nice.

After the day they shared their scars, and Yukhei told him that if he tried to befriend him at first was because Mark had been the only one not staring at his face like he was some kind of freak, Yukhei tried to talk to him after classes and they ended up chatting a bit in front of the high school before going separate ways. Yukhei did most of the talking, but Mark tried his best to nod at all the right places -- not because he wasn’t listening and wanted to make him feel like he was, but because he was actually listening but didn’t know how to interact with people that well. So Mark was trying.

For the following weeks, Yukhei kept sitting next to Mark and - before classes start because they were both studious teenagers- he would point a random scar on, Mark and Mark would tell him the story behind it. It was weird at first, because even if he didn’t feel the pain anymore it was like a ghost feeling (you know, when you get a limb cut off and even though you don’t have it anymore you still feel pain sometimes). Explaining the stories that included Yeri and Kunhang was a bit difficult at first, he did not care himself, but past-Mark did. But as days went by and stories were told, it was easier to deal with this lingering feeling. Yukhei always had nice reactions and couldn’t believe that the nerd mark lee would do such things and he couldn’t comprehend that the Yeri and Kunhang that he saw in the hall from time to time would ditch someone like Mark. 

Maybe Yukhei was a psychic, or he was just really really nice, but he always said a kind comment about Mark after every story, or just randomly within the day. And Mark’s heart started to warm up to him, to them both. To Yukhei. 

And to Mark.

Mark started to be kinder to himself, mirroring the kindness that Yukhei showed him. And at times, when it was really dark and he was really tired but didn’t feel like sleeping, laying on his bed he would think about Yukhei, and about being friends with him. He wondered if they were already there, or if it would take some more time. Would Yukhei even want to be friends with me? How do I ask someone to become my friend? Is it like dating, do you have to ask a friend out? How do I know we are friends? How do I know he likes me enough to be my friend? 

How do I know I like him enough to be a good friend to him? 

All these questions, Mark answered them many times. He had given up on friendship years ago and it felt almost new, all these feelings he couldn’t describe, this need and want to be constantly with Yukhei. The easiness of it all, and the lack of useless thoughts whenever they were together.

He still wanted to beat his ass in a math test though.

Maybe tomorrow, he thought.

*** * ***

Friendship was a second birth to Mark Lee.

He had thought about it, his relationship with Yukhei. He had thought about it a lot actually, and couldn’t decide what it was, and didn’t want to decide on his own that it was friendship because this was supposed to go both ways.

But one morning, Yukhei arrived at school at the same time as Mark. He wasn’t walking, probably because it was snowing. Instead, his mother drove him. Mark kept walking, thinking they would meet in the classroom and that he shouldn’t interrupt Yukhei and his mother.

“Hey, Mark! Wait!”

Mark turned around after hearing his name and put his book down, walking up to the car while Yukhei introduced them. “Mom, this is Mark, my friend.”

_ My friend. _

Yukhei called him his friend. it wasn’t a one-sided friendship. Mark’s heart almost stopped, and he knew exactly what he was feeling: joy, pure bliss.

From then on, Mark tried to be more open with his friend. He told him about how he used to feel back when he lost his friends, and what has been going on (or rather lack of going on) with him ever since. Yukhei had always been patient with him, he never asked him to hug or show any kind of friendly affection, although they would fistbump now and then when they got a really tricky math problem right. He never forced him to tell him something unless he was ready for it. He also knew that Mark wasn’t the best listener. He did listen, but he didn’t know how to respond or help him with whatever heartfelt feeling he was telling him about, and Yukhei never blamed or resented him for that, he knew that Mark’s nods were worth a thousand words. 

And a thousand more.

With Yukhei, and his friendship, Mark started to live again. He didn’t need fake purposes that would just make him go out of bed one day after another without actually craving for it. Every night he longed to be the next morning so he could go to class, high school was pretty fun with Yukhei. And even though he still didn’t master his emotions, and couldn’t feel all the range of emotions

He knew joy, and he knew fun. He knew what feeling giddy was. He knew how to care for someone.

And Yukhei cared about him too, he told him so. When Mark told him about his lack of feelings, about him not really feeling alive, Yukhei made it his personal mission to be his emotional coach. Apparently it meant showing him Brooklyn 99 episodes. 

Later, Yukhei got more serious about it, after Mark’s parents forgot his birthday and he didn’t really feel anything. To Mark it was normal, why should they care enough to remember that? It’s just a day, he thought. Them forgetting his being born wasn’t a big deal.

It was a big deal to Yukhei.

Yukhei heard about it a few days later, but he got him a present (Brooklyn 99 DVDs) and made a planner with tasks to do.

It was titled “Operation Make Mark Lee Feel Again” and consisted mainly of having one emotion to focus on each week. Yukhei made powerpoints with images and video of said emotion, with Wikipedia definitions and examples of moments when one was supposed to feel it. He would try to make him feel it too. When it was anger week he stepped on his foot every hour until Mark just lost it. At least it worked.

This week was sadness. And Mark didn’t know if he really wanted to learn that emotion again, but Yukhei said it was important, that it was part of being a human being and part of being alive. And that even if Mark couldn’t pinpoint what the emotion was, there would probably be a time when he would feel it and if he knows what it is, it’s easier to deal with, whereas if he doesn’t know then he’ll just make everything worse.

Mark trusted Yukhei, and agreed to watch the powerpoint. On there, he saw a video of someone losing her cat and it rang a bell. He knew he felt like this once too. 

His assignment for the week was to listen to a playlist specially made by Yukhei, with only really sad songs, both lyric and mood-wise. 

And Yukhei must be really smart because it worked too. The playlist, and Mark thinking about the cat he lost when he was younger, which led to him thinking about his friends that were there for him at the time and weren’t now. After a while, he ended up crying and texted Yukhei to tell him he knew what sadness was now. Mark thought that Yukhei would be happy to know it worked, but when Mark jokingly added that he even made him cry, Yukhei started to feel bad and the following morning he forgot about the boundaries they implicitly stated between them and hugged Mark.

Mark actually liked it, it felt alright.

And another feeling, that he couldn’t pinpoint yet, but he was confident that he would know soon enough thanks to Yukhei’s efforts.

*** * ***

Friendship with Yukhei was different than friendship with Yeri or Kunhang to eighteen-year-old Mark Lee. 

He did not know in what way, maybe it was different because he was different himself. But he didn’t feel like he was living through his friendship, he didn’t feel like this friendship was what defined him, and he knew who he was. He was someone outside of his friendship with Yukhei.

It was different in the way that he didn’t need alone time anymore. Being with Yukhei was effortless, it was easy and it didn’t demand much from Mark. He didn’t have to run everywhere, find an idea of what to do, discuss and debate on something he didn’t really care about. Not that Yeri and Kunhang made him do that against his will, but he just noticed now that it wasn’t the way he liked to spend his afternoons.

He liked to spend his afternoons with Yukhei, eating junk food, doing homework, watching TV while being on their phone or reading a book, sharing books, teaching each other stuff. They had this ridiculous habit of making powerpoints for everything, and mostly for stupid things. The last time, Mark made a powerpoint about how rubber bands were made, and Yukhei listened to it carefully. 

Being friends with Yukhei was low-maintenance, but it was so, so rewarding. 

One day, Mark told Yukhei about Kunhang. He told him about how he truly believed he was his soulmate at some point, and how it broke him a bit more to lose him than to lose Yeri, although he actually lost both of them. They talked about it for a while, at some point Mark mentioned that he used to love Kunhang, or at least he thinks he did. For whatever reason, Mark didn’t really wanted to say that bit.

But Yukhei, as always, was wonderful and explained something to him. He explains that you can like people more than others, and it’s okay. That you can love someone to death without being in love, platonic ride or dies can be a thing. That you can love someone but like your best friend even more. That you can love multiple people. And that platonic soulmates exist too. 

“ You know you can like some people more than others ? Love doesn’t have to be equal, right ? “ 

That’s how the deep talk started, Mark didn’t really know that you could actually do that, he always thought he had to love his friends equally, 50% kunhang, 50% yeri. “No, no I didn’t know.”

“ Okay, and do you know that it’s not because you like one friend more than another friend that it’s romantic ? It’s not because you like someone more than another friend of yours, that that someone is necessarily more. " Yukhei paused, trying to find a good way to formulate his thoughts so that Mark could understand them better. 

" Both can be your friends. You can love someone to death, be ready to die for them, would give them your soul, without being in love ? Soulmates can be platonic, Mark.

“ I.. I didn’t know that either. To me, I just had friends, and I thought that if I started liking one of them more, then it would mean I was in love with that one, and it wouldn’t be fair to the other, so I tried my best not to have those feelings.”

Mark thought about it but was still convinced that what he felt for Kunhang at the time was love, nothing platonic really. But he still didn’t know what this feeling felt like anymore, so he couldn’t really know for sure.

Yukhei must have sensed it because the next emotion they studied was love. Yukhei showed him videos of men confessing their love to other men, women to other women, non-binary people as well, Yukhei thought this through, to show Mark that anyone can love anyone (Mark did know that -- he didn’t know the feeling but he knew stuff from books). He made him a love playlist, and made him write down what he liked about Kunhang, and then a list of what being in love seemed like according to different movies and books he had already seen or read. 

It was a bigger assignment than the weeks before, but they didn’t have much homework so it was okay. 

Mark did the list about Kunhang first; he didn’t want the other list to affect it. And he couldn’t remember what he liked at the time but he tried to remember. He didn’t write that much but he remembers little Mark being all fuzzy whenever they had a sleepover because it meant cuddling, and he loved Kunhang’s smile, and when he would let him talk for a long time about things he didn’t really care about. He was also good at finding activities and he was never bored with him. Oh, and he knew where his mother hid the cocoa powder. 

It was a really childish list but the Mark who liked Kunhang was as a child too.

Then he did the list.

And maybe it was because this week Yukhei had been extra touchy (more than one fistbump a day? such a flirt!), at least Mark thought he had been, maybe he had always been like this and he only noticed now because of the week’s theme ? anyways. Maybe it was because they were extra touchy lately, but Mark couldn’t resist to try to see how many boxes fitted Yukhei.

Mark thought about Yukhei a little more these days. So he checked the box Thinking about them constantly. He also quite like him being touchy, so he checked the box Craving their affection, this worked with his liking for Yukhei complimenting him as well. But he liked returning compliments, not right away because it sounded fake otherwise, but whenever he thought something nice about Yukhei he told him, so he checked the box Wanting to make them happy. 

He checked many other boxes.

Many other boxes that Kunhang never checked.

Friendship with Yukhei wasn’t what Eighteen years old Mark Lee wanted anymore.

The little assignment made him notice things he shouldn’t have, and after telling Yukhei that he did not, in fact, love Kunhang that way, and that he thought he understood love a little better now, things became weird.

It was weird in Mark’s head, at least, because Yukhei didn’t show any sign of it being weird. But to Mark, it certainly was. His heart beat faster whenever they were in class and he was losing at their maths battles because he kept losing focus and looking at him. 

Mark  found Yukhei a bit different. He didn’t notice at first, but he was definitely smiling more, and brushing their elbows in class on purpose, and arriving earlier so they could chat before classes. 

The expression in his eyes whenever he saw Kunhang had changed too.

He used not to care about neither of Mark’s former best friends, but now, although Yukhei looked at Yeri with disdain for abandoning his amazing friend, he looked at Kunhang with hatred, and a bit of cockyness. As if to say ‘look at what you lost, dipshit’. 

Mark didn’t care about them anymore. He was happy with the way his life was - they even started to talk to some other people at school and joined the math marathon team. 

Two weeks after joining the team, Mark had a new emotion to work on.

And after watching the powerpoint, and doing his assignment, Mark could understand what he had been feeling the last few days. He had noticed a new emotion deep in his guts, an unpleasant one, but he didn’t know what it was. Because he didn’t know how jealousy was supposed to feel like.

Now he does.

For whatever reason that Mark can’t remember because he was a bit panicking at the time, he ended up telling Yukhei that he knew that emotion. And of course Yukhei asked him on what occasion he had felt jealous, mark should have seen that coming. 

Mark was extremely bad at lying so he couldn’t make up an excuse on the spot.

So he tried being honest. 

“ I felt it when you stayed longer with the team instead of doing your homework with me. “ Mark didn’t look at Yukhei while saying this because he felt stupid, why would he be jealous of other friends ? Especially because of everything Yukhei had been doing for him ; Mark knew he was his closest friend, but still..

Yukhei didn’t reply, and Mark felt worse and worse, until a hand pushed his chin up so he could look at him. “ Don’t feel ashamed, it’s normal to feel things Markie. “

Yukhei was smiling, and didn’t blame him nor found him weird, so Mark nodded and smiled as well.

Mark smiled even more a few minutes later when Yukhei told him that he was jealous as well sometimes, and that as long as you don’t do stupid things because of it, itwas okay. Mark asked him when he had felt jealous, and he wasn’t expecting this to be Yukhei’s reply. “Whenever I see Kunhang. I’m jealous he got to know young mark. “

They kept talking a bit more, about everything and anything.

When Mark was lying on his bed that night, he noticed that Yukhei didn’t say that he had been jealous of Yeri.

Mark definitely smiled even more.

*** * ***

Friendship is probably the best thing in the world, thought graduating Mark Lee. 

After graduation, he went to celebrate with the math team whom had become really good friends of his. And with Yukhei. 

Yukhei who was his best friend in the whole world, who made him like life again, who encouraged him to go see a psychologist and always accompanied him, who pretended to be slower at math from time to time to let him win.

Yukhei who was in love with him and told him so a few days after their talk on jealousy. Yukhei who was in love with him and had asked him to go on a proper date, not one of their regular hang out. Yukhei who was in love with him and had asked him to be his boyfriend five minutes into said date because he couldn’t wait and they had both confessed their feelings already. Yukhei who was in love with him and had accepted the fact that dating Mark would mean to take things slow and let hi- help him, discover new feelings and sensations, that it would mean waiting a lot for him to comprehend things and integrate them.

Yukhei whom he was in love with and taught him that ‘friend’ was still a big part of being boyfriends.

( Whenever University Student Mark Lee missed his boyfriend, he would look at one of the happy little marks he made when they were together and went on adventures. )

  
  
  
  



End file.
